Monthly Archives: June 2013

Well, the haze in Singapore has died down quite a bit, and with it all the uproar as well. Not before I succumbed to it though – went down with a high fever during the weekend, which was also the weekend of our soft launch in case any of you missed it. Alas, work comes first and I trudged through my duties in my heavily medicated and feverish state. I’m glad that I work with the people that I do however, they covered for me where I couldn’t, and I’m eternally grateful for that. Everyone rolled up their sleeves, in what was a very eventful weekend.

Heck, when the haze got to hazardous levels, the bosses issued a work-from-home order. Props to them, despite being a young management team, they’ve shown initiative and concern for the staff, who in turn go above and beyond their duties – all to bring the game to fruition. Everyone works for everyone, and it’s a splendid environment to be in. Below you see that they’ve gotten themselves on a well-circulated list of companies that showed initiative during the haze.

Well, the haze aside – we also had to deal with the fog of war during the launch. There were some uncertain factors that we had to react to in real time, and the team was on 24/7 alert during the soft launch. We’re glad we managed to navigate through it, and to be honest, the adrenalin rush of the release and watching everyone be on the ball was definitely an experience worth being a part of.

If anyone is curious how the soft launch is doing, we’re doing alright thankfully. The reviews and comments we’ve received from the players and the media have been encouraging to say the least, and our only hope is to do justice to the saga and to the fans of the genre. With that said, we haven’t had the smoothest of launches, and there are a few things we need to iron out. For one, we could certainly do with more coverage!

While those who have tried the game can for the most part appreciate the depth of it, we do feel like we haven’t been able to reach out to as many people as we can, given that most of our resources were put into making the game itself. We hope to one day see a community around the saga, but we’ll need everyone’s help to do it – so do tell your friends about Mercenaries and spread the good word!

We’ll also be trying our best in the meantime to gain coverage. We are hopeful that it’ll all work out!

Cheers,

Khai

P.S – For those of you who missed the news, the full launch will be out on July 11th.

Soft launch is here as promised – Ravenmark: Mercenaries announces its arrival on the App stores of Australia, New Zealand and Singapore! I couldn’t be more glad that it’s out, to be honest. The response so far has been nothing but heartwarming, and I am really glad to have been a part of this project. Have I mentioned how delighted I am with how the community seems to be growing? Well I am – and I am confident that our players will have a great experience with what we have right now.

That’s not to say that we won’t be continuously reviewing the game to add more stuff, after all the Ravenmark saga is our baby. With that said, I’d just like to thank everyone who’s helped out. Our testers, journalists, friends and family – everyone who’s basically shown interest in the game really. It wouldn’t have been what it is today without you.

P.s – The haze in Singapore is really terrible at the moment, so our kind bosses [Ian: WHAT? Kind!? Lies! Wait till we get back to the office..] have told us to stay indoors and they’ve issued a “work-from-home” order. We’ve ensured that all things will be progressing as usual however, so don’t worry, we’re still very much on track with the full launch. 😛

Just thought I’d add another update to the blog. Some of you may have heard that we’ll be rewarding folks who have completed Scourge of Estellion. Well, without further ado, let me just introduce you to the unique brigades that you folks will be entitled to! Read the descriptions to find out how to obtain them!

Let’s start with:

Belial’s Bastards

Former charges of Felidae Belial, these men were formerly of Estellion’s 124th Mark. Players are required to complete the Prelude Campaign from Scourge of Estellion to attain them.

Ventus Ventures V

A mercenary brigade under the employ of Nessius and Portia Ventus, these men are formerly of the Urban Cohort. Players are required to complete the Ravenhood Campaign from Scourge of Estellion to obtain them.

Pico Sol Swarm

Cardani Elves – remnants and survivors from the first war. Players must complete the Suneaters Campaign from Scourge of Estellion to obtain them.

Mudder’s Bane

Lyri rebels, sworn to exact vengeance against the Denmothers who have wronged them. Players will have to complete the Deepwood Dragoons Campaign from Scourge of Estellion to obtain them.

Semper Anticus

Former vanguards of the Invocati, serving under the traitor, Agrios Moneo. Players are required to complete the Raven’s Dusk Campaign from Scourge of Estellion to obtain them.

Los Quenados – Completion of Raven’s Rise

Former Inquisitors, not aligned with Usun’s adoption of the new alliance with folks they consider heretics. Players are required to complete the Raven’s Rise Campaign from Scourge of Estellion to obtain them.

Lost Boars

Lost boar unit, formerly of the 9th Chargers only to be trapped in the Deepwoods. Players can only obtain this brigade if they had purchased the Deepwood Dragoons Premium App in the past.

Lean in a little closer would you? I’ve got a little something to announce… Closer… Closer… Don’t be shy now… Just a little closer…

We’ve uploaded the soft launch build!

That’s right folks, we’ve uploaded the soft launch build up onto the app store. What this means is that we’re pretty much just waiting on Apple to approve it and we’re good to go. After months of testing and balancing, I can safely say that we have a really solid game on our hands. It won’t be long now until we release the full launch, so we can’t take our foot off the pedal just yet – but I am just as excited as anyone else, really.

As I said before, a handful of countries will be participating in the soft launch. We have on our list; Australia, New Zealand and Singapore! Moving forward, we are hopeful that we will receive a positive response from these markets, and that come July, we’ll be geared up and ready for an international launch.

Essentially, with Mercenaries being a multiplayer game, it really is all about the community. We are doing our best to build a competitive environment with the game mechanics, and we hope to foster healthy competition amongst our players. So spread the word! After all, the more players the better it is for everyone really, so we’ll need all the support we can get.

For those of you who can’t wait, I’ve taken a couple of screenshots for you. Check them out below!

That’s all the news I have for now folks! You’ll be hearing from me again real soon! In the meantime, if you’ve anything to say at all, leave the comments below! I’ll reply as fast as I can. Take care all!

So… What a week for the tech world huh. There was a whole lot of drama at E3, with both Microsoft and Playstation duking it out and Nintendo pretty much sitting out on the whole thing. Adding to that, Apple also announced the iOS 7. It certainly looks great, and it feels really good as well. Oh! I almost forgot… Facebook announced hash-tag support. #whoopee

What about us then? Well, to be honest we were a tad worried how the huge overhaul on the iOS would affect us, but we’ll have to deal with that as it comes. #whoopee

Right, okay I promise that’s the last time I’ll use the hash-tag joke. So, yeah looks like we’re totally set for our soft launch. If everything goes according to plan, including the time it takes for apple to approve an app… it could be out on the app stores for certain as early as next week! With that said though, the soft launch will only include a small number of selected countries. Full launch of the game seems set to be in July.

Does that mean the end of the Ravenmark saga then? Nuh uh. It is our flagship title after all, and there’s a large portion of the story yet to be told. With that said, we need all the support we can get to keep the saga running. So play the game when it releases! I think the game will speak for itself though, and seeing as to how often I’m reaching out for my iPad to “beta test” the game…

My only hope is that word reaches out to the community, so spread the word!

Good news – summer’s here! Bad news… I can’t tell you the release date yet! I can tell you however, that we are pretty much good to go for our soft launch. Unfortunately only a few regions will participate in our soft launch. I’ve got some screenshots here to show you how far we’ve gotten, and how the user interface will more or less look like. I must say, we’ve cleaned it up quite a bit and I’m happy with what we have so far! So without further ado, a little something from us to you, just to whet your appetites and tease your taste buds before the release! Enjoy!

About Witching Hour Studios

We’re a tight-knit family of game developers in Singapore who have lived and will die by quality games with immersive, believable worlds. Fight the good fight and play games worthy of your time and sophistication, or better yet – get inspired and make more games!